Taking the pulse of law firm leaders: The impact of COVID-19

There’s no denying it: our industry, our economy, and the broader global community are facing an unprecedented situation with COVID-19. All of us are being challenged to quickly make decisions that we have never made before, with no playbook to guide us. To help the legal community better navigate through our current uncertain waters with as little disruption as possible, Intapp fielded a study last week to understand—in real time—how law firms are responding, and then to share best practices and findings with the broader legal community. Here are top-level  findings from your law firm peers about actions taken and sentiments as of the survey date (March 11-13, 2020), recognizing the rapid pace of change underway:

1. No respondents had yet totally closed their headquarters location and 80% had not closed any offices
2. 60% had not yet evaluated vendors or partners on their business continuity plan
3. Most of those surveyed had enacted seven to eight of the policy changes we listed
4. 87% of respondents have allocated additional IT resources to support work from home

For those of you who want to explore our data further, here are our more detailed findings:

1. 74% expected there to be a modest to severe impact on legal services demand over the next two quarters
2. A majority (80%) felt that the impacts on the firm will be over within the next 90 days.
3. All firms have taken quick and decisive actions, with most having implemented seven to eight of the policies listed below. The business impacts as of last week had been relatively mild, with three-quarters not yet seeing an impact on their business or the ways they work.
4. Two-thirds of respondents had not seen a significant impact on their business or the ways they work, and most expect any impacts to last a quarter or less

• 29% have already begun to cancel in-person meetings
• 21% are having trouble contacting clients as priorities shift